2016-05-30 Meeting minutes
Minutes of a public meeting held outside Terminus bar, Great King St and then in Dunedin Public Library on Monday 30 May These minutes are in the form of a statement to be presented to the Otago Regional Council: Statement to Otago Regional Council on proposed Dunedin Bus Hub We held a public meeting on 30 May 2016, during which we had a walking tour of the proposed bus hub site and gathered people's thoughts on the proposal. About 12 members of the public attended. Attendees were keen to know when further plans for the hub would be available to the public. The following ideas came from the participants Benefits of proposed site *Central location *Close to Hospital, supermarkets, main street. *It has its own Police Station. Drawbacks of the proposed site *Some participants felt strongly that the bus hub should remain in the Octagon *A windier micro-climate than other parts of the city. *Fewer retailers, especially food outlets. Features desired at the new bus hub *Adequate shelter, including sides and top, covering full width of footpath. *Toilets *Heated waiting room, perhaps bus-size. Perhaps a re-purposed restored cable car permanently installed. Door could be opened using a Go Card. *Staffed kiosk to sell Go Cards, food, coffee, magazines with extended hours, including evenings. *Security guard from 8pm. *Free WIFI. *Real time display at the hub, and also at adjacent pub and café. *Continued direct or connecting bus services to Exchange, Octagon, George Street retail areas, Supermarkets, University *Good connecting service to the Hospital *Design should provide a safe crossing for people to get to bus stops on the other side of the street (or put all the stops on one side) to cater for people with limited mobility. *Seating. *No reversing of buses in and out of bus stops *Route map. *Bus stop for all long distance buses and airport shuttles visiting Dunedin. *Taxi rank Suggestions/comments regarding implementation of the bus hub *Not enough information has been presented yet to form an opinion on the proposal. *Wide consultation with a draft plan before decisions are finalized. *It was suggested that the ORC produce an article in the Star with a diagram of the bus hub. *There is uncertainty about the proposed routes around the hub. How will bus routes change? How will buses enter and leave the hub? *New Christchurch bus stations is "great." Staffed, information and food available. *Temporary Christchurch bus station was also a good model for a Dunedin-sized operation, there was a heated waiting room and real-time displays, although not as large and elaborate as the new one it did its job well. *Example of good consultation was the DCC change in rubbish system. They put out an initial document, then they put out another after the feedback from people. Bus use is a something that people have strong feelings on and there should be good consultation about it. *There should be good infrastructure, and it should not come out of current operational bus funding. We need to be ambitions and provide great infrastructure. * Get information from other cities around the would of similar size, and use this in the design process. *"Emergency hub" - Identify an alternate site elsewhere in the city (e.g. Filleul Street) and a protocol for quickly establishing a temporary hub in case the hub is closed due to an emergency. * Bus stops labelled with letters - Stand A, Stand B etc - to avoid confusion with route numbers. *Wilsons/ Farmers car park could be used for facilities. *Council could lease parts of existing buildings for facilities. *Avoid "waiting time" for buses at the hub: they should be scheduled to leave as soon as they arrive and not sit idling for several minutes. Don't undo the good work ORC has done getting rid of waiting time in the Octagon in recent years. *Most present-day passengers appreciate the existing through-running bus service. Don't make travel worse for these people when introducing a hub-based system. Other general suggestions about the bus service *Occasional bus users are often confused about working out the routes and timetables. The new bus hub will potentially assist passengers to understand the system. *The ORC should be presenting a strong argument in favour of buses, many more people use buses than cycling for example. *Sometimes the buses don't leave on time and you can be late for appointments. *Provide separate public buses for school use. *Would like to see a panel of bus users to feed back to the council. *The timetable on the stop (near the Kaikorai Valley, Stewart Street, Taieri Road intersection) was wrong, and it took 3 years and 5 calls to get it fixed. *Timetable should be available in individual leaflets per route. Category:meeting minutes Category:Public Meetings